April 24th

Hamas Still Not Ready for Prime Time In Print by Hussein Ibish - The Daily Beast (Opinion) - April 23, 2012 - 12:00am In a wide-ranging interview with the Jewish Daily Forward, Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook again demonstrated the difficult position in which his organization finds itself. Due to the Arab uprisings, the region’s strategic landscape is now primarily defined by sectarian allegiances. As a result, Hamas's external leadership is trying to reintegrate the organization into the mainstream Sunni Arab fold, cultivating closer ties with states like Qatar, Jordan and Egypt, while distancing itself from Iran and abandoning Syria altogether. » Read more

April 3rd

Safer Side by Side: Why Israel Needs Palestine In Print by Hussein Ibish - The Daily Beast (Opinion) - April 2, 2012 - 12:00am Benny Begin, a member of Prime Minister Netanuyahu's inner cabinet, recently dismissed the idea of the creation of a viable Palestinian state, claiming it would be an unbearable security threat to Israel. He added that Netanuyahu's 2009 Bar-Ilan speech, which seemingly endorsed the two-state goal, was aimed exclusively at foreign audiences but that Palestinian statehood "was not brought up for discussion in the government, nor will it be discussed." "This is not the government's position," he stated bluntly. All the evidence suggests he's correct. » Read more